With regards to the Superman power scale thing, the simple answer is that really, it varies by writer. Some of those on the list, like Sinestro, Atrocious and the various Green Lanterns have been both shown as stronger and weaker than Superman. We also have to take into account when Superman empowers himself by absorbing solar radiation, so there is room for fluctuation.

Verlander:The difference between Marvel and DC, and which probably a big reason Marvel is doing better, isn't the characters but the universes.

It was mentioned in a Avengers/Justice League crossover at one point, but in the DC Universe, the heroes are loved and adored. There are parades in the street, statues to the heroes... they're loved. Especially in the case of Superman, the villains often come across as jealous and petty, because that's what they are. As a viewer, it's very difficult to sympathize with the enemy in that situation. I'd argue that The Dark Knight pulled it off more because of Two Face than the Joker. Yeah, I'm serious.

In Marvel, the heroes themselves fight adversity. Captain America is manipulated by the government, Stark is an alcoholic, the mutants are discriminated, Hulk is being hunted down by the army when all he wants is to be left alone. Their progression is against adversity, and about doing the right thing even for those that despise you, or would see you fail. That makes a better short story, which is what films ultimately are.

I could never quite articulate why I preferred Marvel superheros over most of DC's folks, but I think this sums it up for me. Thanx. :D

Marvel to me just seems to feel more human and realistic since they still have their own personal problems and adversities to deal with even with their amazing powers/technology. Even with the villain Loki, he's reasonably pissed off after what he learned in the Thor movie and with his character arc in that movie and The Avengers, it's kinda less about really getting one over on the Good Guys and more about seeing his narcissistic, denial ridden, overcompensating "HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, THOR/DAD?!?" self-destruction. He was trying so hard to outsmart everybody that he outsmarted his own damn self (the Interrogation scene really nailed that home). I think I might enjoy a movie if it was about those kind of personalities but they were just normal regular people, because I KNOW people like Tony Stark and Steve Rogers and even Thor and Loki, and the Marvel movies have really been hitting that home for me.

With DC I think their fantastical powers/origins/escapades tend to overshadow the actual men/women behind the mask. They seem more REACTIVE than PROACTIVE. Which isn't all bad I guess depending on the point of the story being told, but I am left a little bit colder and distant with the DC hero stable.

So I finally got around to seeing this (what? I'm kind of a grownup with other things to do), and you will never get me to believe this is a Zach Snyder movie written by David Goyer. It looks, talks and feels like a Christopher Nolan movie.

Which isn't really bad in some ways. I like the way he tries to find how something would "work" in the "real world". He isn't always successful at it, but in this case, this is truly difficult material to work with.

I liked Michael Shannon and I really liked Russell Crowe. The former was easier to like because, hey, villain. The latter was more problematic, story-wise (maybe I missed it, but how the hell did he know who Lois Lane was?), but the performance was good.

I hated everything about Lois Lane. I haven't believed in the actress playing the character since Margot Kidder. She at least looked like she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Amy Adams, and Kate Bosworth before her, have never believably looked like they "lived" hard enough to investigate stuff that would have won a Pulitzer. Adams especially in this role, never struck me as anything more than a marshmallow made to make concerned faces at the right moment and be there to be the guy people told stuff to so that we, the audience, understand it. (She was taken on board Zod's ship for no apparent reason, which could have been explained away at least with a single line of dialogue that she was recognized as non-military and was there for leverage. But I felt at that point, the female sub-commander, when explaining the decision, was talking directly to the audience when she said not to question it, which...boo, Snyder. I'm liking the Nolan-brand DC movies for the fact that they keep the winking at the audience to subtleties. Don't start going all Marvel on me.)

Which, going back to the whole "problematic material" thing: Superman doesn't have a sidekick, or if he does, it ain't one that non-followers of the comics know anything about. He doesn't have an audience proxy, so while I felt the whole Lois Lane thing was unnecessary, she was a bad fit for a role that WAS necessary.

Why did we care about Perry White and the Daily Planet crew again? I mean, I understand why that stuff was there (to give us the sense that bigger, badder stuff was happening than an extended alien fight) and we're supposed to care about them because the plot says so, but still...felt like too much work to care about these people for the motivation I was given to do so. (It was my snark side that said, when Perry says "You can't run this story", I said "oh, is he going to give her the red pill now?")

I liked the Costner/Lane stuff. Lane especially. I didn't hate Cavill and I'm not the biggest fan of Reeves, so I've got no personal stake in saying "oh, well, he's just not Christopher Reeves".

Oddly, I kind of liked this movie for all the complaints I had about it. It was uneven, sure, but, like I will contend forever, this is hard stuff to make into something organic that you can gloss over with a few snarky bits of dialogue, and it was fine for what it was.

I agree with Bob 100%. The original isn't perfect, but it really does sell the origin. The Krypton prologue pulls you in despite the risk it took of boring little kids. With the new movie, I almost wish that WB had the balls to make the first movie a straight scifi epic about Krypton that ended with the rocket being launched. Honestly, how awesome would it have been if the plot had been announced, but when you went to the theater, you found out it was a Superman prelude?